when

[davo]

OK now I've seen the enclosure, here's some tips:

Ditch the dirt. Drop $2-3 at Home Depot/Lowe's/Wal-mart/Kmart and buy a bag of cypress mulch. DO NOT get the red or cedar stuff, get cypress. One bag will do for a couple cage cleanings in that setup

Put the basking light opposite the water pan, with the climbing limb underneath. Leave the hide there too. If you don't want to add another hide at least he can hide behind the water pan and stay cool if he wants.

If you don't have one already, get a night heat bulb or a ceramic heat emitter. Try to keep it around 80F or so in there at night. You could probably have it a bit lower, but the warmth is for...

Getting him eating. Get some frozen hopper-sized mice. Thaw one out and put it in there at night, on top of the wood or hide, someplace where he'll find it and it won't get nasty. The juvi water monitor I was keeping was a Petco rescue (what the hell is Petco doing selling water monitors anyway? that's worse than pacus, by far) and I got him eating by bumping the night heat and feeding in the dark.

Add a small dish for clean drinking water. Scrub out that water pan daily, twice a day if you have to. If you have a large water pan monitors (and iguanas and other lizards too) are sure to crap in it. Makes cage cleaning easier of course, but incredibly unsanitary.

Try putting a piece of glass or plastic over the screen to bump the humidity up.
And get that cage built. He's borderline OK in there...in about 2 months he won't be. Use Z's plans or buy one of the kits (custom cages, cagesbydesign, whatever). Not Vision, they're not tall enough.

Whole heartedly agree with this. The climbing branch is a great idea under the basking spot, allows it to get to different temperatures using a different gradient. Hides at both ends would be best (cool and hot). Move the basking spot a little more to one side of the cage, and have it so its not over the water. Got some good advice now do it. This is for the monitors health, not because it looks better or anything.

 

[davo]

Large_cichlids, what temperature is your monitor best kept at?

 

[Fishes33]

He was told about the potting soil at least a hundred times before for his other "pets". He will do NOTHING about it.

Where are the two tokays??

Where are the two LEO's???

Why is it so hard for you to COMPREHEND???

Give him a break, I think I know how he felt. I see his tank = I got headache too

Either he is very busy with real life, or just being lazy.. Cause its a lot of work to clean out that 55G. It will take him a few hours, which I assume he doesnt want to do

Judging by the amount of soil in that tank, it will at least fill half of a garbage bag, then take out the wood, dishes, etc and wash them. Take out the tank and rinse it and scrub the calcium off and dry it... and then place back another substrate + decor and etc.. and then place back the lizard.. ohh ohh and dont forget to vacuum your carpet too

It will look amazing when you finish, but its always so hard to start (i know how you feel cause i done a similar cleaning project.. headache headache )

 

[davo]

Give him a break, I think I know how he felt. I see his tank = I got headache too

Either he is very busy with real life, or just being lazy.. Cause its a lot of work to clean out that 55G. It will take him a few hours, which I assume he doesnt want to do

Judging by the amount of soil in that tank, it will at least fill half of a garbage bag, then take out the wood, dishes, etc and wash them. Take out the tank and rinse it and scrub the calcium off and dry it... and then place back another substrate + decor and etc.. and then place back the lizard.. ohh ohh and dont forget to vacuum your carpet too

It will look amazing when you finish, but its always so hard to start (i know how you feel cause i done a similar cleaning project.. headache headache )

I dont think thats the right attitude. If your too busy you cant care for them, no matter how much you want to, and if you are feeling lazy, you won't care for them. Either is just as bad.

 

[large_cichlids]

what would be the best subtrate.i dont want to use aspen.(it is a pain)

 

[large_cichlids]

if i have to ill take out the potting soil and clean the whole tank.

 

[TheBloodyIrish]

He only have to clean it out once a month... no big deal either. It should not take long to clean it either if you know what you are doing.

The best substrate for you? Paper towel, unprinted newspaper or slate tiles. You can always give the monitor a burrow bin, then you can just dump that out and put new substrate in.

 

[Z Trip]

 

[Ophiuchus]

Either he is very busy with real life, or just being lazy.. Cause its a lot of work to clean out that 55G. It will take him a few hours, which I assume he doesnt want to do

A few hours? Only if he really poked around and stretched it out. It could easily be cleaned within an hour with the right mindset.

But you're right, he still has to find time and/or the will to actually get off his butt and do it.

 

[CTU2fan]

what would be the best subtrate.i dont want to use aspen.(it is a pain)

Seriously, get the cypress. It's cheaper than stuff like aspen that's made for pets. Plus you can spot-clean it when he craps, saves the trouble of cleaning the whole thing. Another good thing, you can wet the cypress to bump up the humidity, which he'll like...do that with dirt & you get a mud pit.